Kemar Roach leaves for home after grandmother passes away

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The West Indies cricketers yesterday wore black armbands to show solidarity towards pacer Kemar Roach, who had to fly back to Barbados following the demise of his grandmother. Consequently, Roach had to miss the first Test here.

He is expected to join the team mid-way into the first Test and will be available for the second Test.

In the absence of Kemar Roach, pacer Shannon Gabriel was the standout bowler while the rest of the West Indies' attack looked ordinary. "Shannon has had a fantastic year, through the series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka he bowled quick. But we know that Shannon Gabriel can bowl quick, but the most exciting part for me was at the back end of the day he was still getting it up to 145 kilometres an hour, towards the end of a very hot day on a pretty docile wicket," he said.

West Indies fielding coach Nic Pothas did not reveal much about Jason Holder's ankle injury, which ruled him out of the first Test, but said the skipper was carrying the pain and injury from the preceding training camp in Dubai.

The West Indies had trained in Dubai for a week before coming to India. Missing out Holder from the line-up was a big blow to the visitors as is handy with both bat and ball. The team struggled on day one with India reaching a commanding 364 for four.

"I am not in a position to discuss Jason's injury but he felt something in Dubai in our pre-season camp. Obviously it has not settled down as much as he or the medical staff would have liked. He will be monitored on a daily basis and we will wait and see how that pans out," said Pothas, who has also worked with Sri Lanka.

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